by Maria Sofou

The photographer has captured his models in bizarre poses, blending superficial expressions like fake tears with playful colors, especially the dominant pink – Bocanegra’s figures have a sense of meaningless on their faces, even despair in some cases, that the fancy jewellery, clothes and makeup can’t hide. Idealized femininity gets under the microscope here in what firstly appears to be fun compositions, although they carefully hide a sense of passive frustration that emerges through every model.

“I always work with portrait and I really like to mix feelings of isolation and melancholy with colorful and friendly aesthetics. I use simple compositions, trying to focus on the expression and emotion of the character. I could say that I try to create portraits with a passive/aggressive hidden sadness,” Bocanegra explained in a statement provided to Beautiful/Decay.